KSC-05PD-1377

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the newly arrived Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) spacecraft leaves the airstrip for transport to the VAFB Astrotech Payload Processing Facility. CALIPSO will fly in combination with the CloudSat satellite to provide never-before-seen 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. CALIPSO and CloudSat will join three other satellites in orbit to enhance understanding of climate systems. The launch date for CALIPSO/CloudSat is no earlier than Aug. 22.
Credit: NASA